Maggie Island

We tripped over to Magnetic Island to visit our friends, Chris'n'Michelle. They were in fine fettle, and we had a fabulous time, touring around "Chris' Island". Thanks so much for having us in your beautiful home Chris'n'Mish! Was so good to catch up with you again.

A little rock wallaby was taking our photo opportunity under the rock arch.

Oi You! Move!
That's better! Now we can pose...

Great photo of you two! We had the most delicious pizza at this restaurant. Can't wait to go back and taste more of the same!



Me pretending to be a rock wallaby
A bit cloudy on the first day... but nonetheless, a wonderful outlook

Trying to be a good sunset...

The next morning, however, the sun came out to show how Magnetic Island really works. Flower girls beneath the Bougainvillia. On our way for a coffee at "Noodies"

Now that is a great beach!


This is the preferred mode of transport for tourists... Mini Mokes or little 4wd cars. Great fun.

Hmmm, Maggie! Didn't know you were a developer...
Noodies. Good coffee, great outlook onto the beach.

Butterfly Walk at Magnetic Island

Walking down to the coffee shop in the morning, Chris and Michelle took us through a walk which is literally "littered" with butterflies. Sticky was, at first, more interested in getting to his coffee, but he was told he would not get any unless he started appreciating the butterflies. Here is his concerted effort at looking amazed.

Very difficult to see, but there are thousands of butterflies all around us. Check it out carefully!

Townsville

Arrived Townsville Wednesday 23 June. Gorgeous weather. We headed straight to the top of Castle Hill to check out the surrounds. Nice view of Magnetic Island in the distance.

Sticky is fascinated by the Morton Bay Figs. We dropped into "The Strand" for a coffee. Joined the Cafe Latte set for a few hours. Nice to relinquish the Trailer Trash label for a while...
Of course, we had to try out the Townsville Golf Club. $50 for the two of us and cart hire. Pretty impressively cheap! And a very nice course to boot
Then big excitement. We saw this tree snake zoom right up the palm tree. It was astounding how it got up there.
There it is, disappearing into the coconuts. Imagine the surprise you would get if you were up there.
A couple of lovely golf holes with great views

More views from The Strand... looking over at Maggie Island
Looking towards Jupiter Casino

Hello to Peter and Maureen on Skype

Lovely to see you two! Watch this space for yummy pictures of warm, sunny and fun Townsville. Look forward to seeing you in September. Love from Sticky and Nikki

Katherine Gorge

This place is something else. Stick and I are on our way to Queensland but took a couple of days to check out Katherine. We also met up with Robin and Steph Duffy ... lovely to catch up with friends from Bright!

We did the 3 gorge cruise. This is the second gorge. According to Aboriginal Dreamtime, the Rainbow Serpent settled in this gorge after all the creation she had done. The indigenous people refuse to swim here for fear of waking the serpent up again.



Yup. Sticky IS the king of the castle.

The ubiquitous crocodile. Very small in this case. I defy you to find him on the rock.
And a black cormorant. (Who was probably bigger than the croc).

Ahhh! Don't let me fall in to be eaten by that giant croc!!!
A Boab Tree to delight us at the end of our cruise.